Dear Member:

We wish to extend to all of you a late but happy and good New Year! And hope that you are keeping well.

1.Archives office at BC Hydro building. We are working hard at our downtown office and once again received help last year with funding from BC Gaming to help us pay for operating costs and some supplies. We were fortunate that we had entered into a 3 year contract with Gaming to receive funding and hopefully we will receive the 3rd year funding again this year. After that we won’t know until we apply for 2011 whether this funding will continue. The Village has forgiven our taxes the last few years, which lightens the load considerably.

2. We continue to provide information whenever requested to people looking for data about pioneers who once lived in our area and to others working on books, grants and thesis’. We were thrilled when contacted by Montenegro for our book on Halcyon because General Burnham and his wife were instrumental in building many hospitals and Red Cross facilities in that country. As you know he was the last owner of Halcyon and died in the fire that burned the spa to the ground. They were very happy with their books.

3. Our newspapers donated from Denis Stanley are in the process of being bound thanks from help with a grant from Columbia Kootenay Cultural Association (a CBT grant)

4. We went to Camborne and Mountain Hostel for a trip last year and hope to finally get to Renata this year. It has to be when the water is low and if we can obtain boats.

5. Kelly Ballard worked in our office for a year but moved on to take a course in hairdressing in February. A big HOW TO book was produced to explain procedures to run the office. Kelly has been a real asset to our organization and will continue to do our yearly financial statement each year as a donation. We will miss her.

6. 3 Cemetery Panels have been completed for the down town cemeteries and we provided all the photos and information. The panels are mounted under a kiosk with a bench in front and is very attractive. The Glenbank cemetery will be done soon. Milton Parent our author/historian received 3 framed photos of the panels for our office.

7. The Heritage Recognition Project has almost been completed. We selected 18 sites and have been instrumental in obtaining the historical information for the sites. February 18th we presented the work to the town at the courthouse, one of the chosen sites.

8. Addition for the Archives Office - At the present time, we have been successful with doing the first steps to build an extension to the Centennial building for our Archives office. The reason we think this is important is - that if no one comes forward to take on the running of the Society when we can no longer do so, the archive material will have to be moved and we want it to stay in Nakusp and in a safe place.

The Village, Museum and Library are most agreeable to see this extension take place. The Museum needs storage room and a workshop, the Library needs a lift/elevator and storage space, as do we. We hope that you will support our efforts with voting for the initial projected costs for the extension at the CBT Initiatives grants.

We have been successful in obtaining a promise of a large grant from CBT and a smaller one from another area of CBT funding. RDCK gave us $2000 to help get the plans done and a start towards initial costs. A feasibility study and business plan is being done now and the Village advised that the land is worth $40,000.

The plans are now completed and Clark Taylor - carpenter - has done an extensive estimate of costs for building, materials and labour. We are looking for estimates for plumbing, electricity and for the lift now.

We are sending in a Letter of Intent to the federal government for the remaining funding needed. So keep your fingers crossed that we are successful so that we can go ahead with the addition.

Lastly, we hope that you will keep up your membership with our Society. To receive help from grants, we have to show that we have enough people interested in keeping our society going through memberships.

Our AGM will be at the Seniors hall on the 15th of April from 2-5 p.m. and after a short meeting and election, Milton will be showing slides or video and hopefully Bruce Rohn will be there with some of his wonderful photos. There will also be refreshments available. We hope to see you there! If you wish to bring along a friend, all are welcome.

If you have not been to our archives office for a visit and/or to check on your family information, we would be happy to see you. If you have any archive items or information that you would like to donate to the archives, we would appreciate receiving them.

Memberships are - $5 per year.

Life Memberships are $50.

Meetings are held at our office during the day 2:30 p.m. - monthly - 3rd Thursdays.

Our office hours are year-long - Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-3 except for 2 weeks during the Christmas season.

Address is Box 819 Nakusp BC V0G 1R0

Phone/fax 250-265-0110 Email alhs@netidea.com

Alternate phone/email 250-265-3323 miltrose@telus.net

Website is www.alhs-archives.com